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Team HODINKEE (Will, Kelly, and myself) landed in Geneva no more than four hours ago, and after a quick shower and hotel lobby club sandwich, we were off to our first appointment of Geneva 2015. And our first appointment was our first appointment because it's a brand that we all genuinely get excited being around – Laurent Ferrier. Today we didn't see any new models (though we were told we would see an entirely new piece in Basel!) but we did see a collection of pieces that would share the same color way – a chocolate brown dial over rose-gold case. The results are stunning and we have pictures after the jump.

Eric Ku is one of the good guys. Actually, he's one of the best guys. Eric is a long-time vintage Rolex dealer of the highest order. He's the type of guy who can find you the $1,000,000 Albino 6263, the type of guy who can make a watch good with a simple blessing. Eric Ku is the type of guy who was talking about "RCO" Daytonas three years ago. Eric is the owner of VintageRolexForum, and dealer of watches at 10PastTen.com, but why he's here today in this series of videos about collectors has nothing to do with his profession, or even Rolex at all. No, Eric Ku, like Jean-Claude Biver, is a true lover of all watches, vintage and new, independent or not. Today we'll be running through some of his favorites, and show you the Submariner that started it all. This is Talking Watches with Eric Ku.

There are just a small handful of truly meaningful watch stores in the United States. This group of forward-thinking, daring, and creative jewelers are, in some cases, responsible for breeding the generation of watch buyers that kept the entire industry afloat during some of its hardest times, and built it into the period of development and innovation that we are currently enjoying. Without these select watch retailers, there would be no industry to enjoy. Roberto Chiappelloni's Manfredi Jewels in Greenwich, CT, is at the forefront of this group, and today, we take an inside look at this amazing bastion of watchmaking.

Remember when we brought you the only Laurent Ferrier for sale in the US. We won’t be doing that again any time soon, because we’re excited to announce the Laurent Ferrier Galet Traveller Enamel US Limited Edition. We hold Ferrier on a special pedestal perhaps because it epitomizes the “quiet cool” of true haute horology, and this eight-piece limited edition for the US market is really something special. Oh, and it makes all those guys dying to pay double-retail for a certain other enamel world-time look a little silly....

Roger Smith. Kari Voutilainen. Laurent Ferrier. Philippe Dufour. If there were four individuals that represented the absolute finest in independent, hand-made horology, it is these guys. Last fall, the four of them got together thanks to the Hour Glass Singapore's "Grandmaster" event. Here, a group of collectors asked the four masters a range of questions, but perhaps the most interesting was when they were asked what watch they would recommend under $10,000.

There is so much to like about Laurent Ferrier that it's hard to mention just a few things. There is the way the movements are designed by Laurent Ferrier himself after his long career with the world's most prestigious watchmaker. There is the way each component is made specifically for Laurent Ferrier and no one else. There is the fact that each watch is hand-assembled by a single watchmaker. There is the fact that the average age of the 16 employees of Laurent Ferrier is 30 (yes, seriously). There is the way that LF movements pay homage to the grand masters like Breguet with the use of a natural escapement, but push things forward by using a double-impulse architecture with silicon lever. There is the way that the watches are finished completely by hand, by a true specialist. Ok, you get it. If this doesn't make you want to read through for my detailed look at up-and-comer Laurent Ferrier, told through a visit to the Vernier workshop, nothing will. If you're a watch lover in the truest sense of the term, this one is for you. Enjoy.

Laurent Ferrier is one of the few young brands that has really set
itself apart from the countless, practically nameless upstarts that clog
the halls of Basel World. They've done so with strikingly simple
looking, beautifully crafted watches like the Galet Classic with double spiral tourbillon and the time-only Micro-Rotor seen here. At Basel 2013, LF showed us their first practical complication - a travel watch with second timezone display by the name of Traveller. Here's the full story:

The Galet Classic from Laurent Ferrier is, in my opinion, one of the
most beautiful watches in the world. You know the one - it's the one
with a double spiral tourbillon that was named Best Men's Watch at the
2010 GPHG. The Tourbillon Double Spiral, or Galet Classic, was LF's
first watch, and it's the one that inspired the incredible Galet micro-rotor,
and at this year's Basel World, Laurent Ferrier introduced a re-worked
tourbillon caliber. To celebrate, they showed us an 18 piece limited
edition, in stainless steel. Yes, that's a Laurent Ferrier tourbillon
in steel, people.

Did you know that Laurent Ferrier came in third place overall at the
1979 24-hours of Le Mans race? He did. And, oh yeah, he was also
Creative Director of Patek Philippe at the time. Nearly three decades
later he founded his eponymous brand, making small numbers of truly
exceptional watches (about 150 annually). Today we have for you the only
Laurent Ferrier watch currently for sale in North America, a Galet
Micro-Rotor at Manfredi Jewels in Greenwich, CT.

Porcelain is one material you don't see too often in horology - even the most cutting-edge haute horology tends to shy away from the delicate, fragile material. But now Laurent Ferrier has teamed up with Meissen Italia to present a new Galet Secret, which hides a tourbillon double balance spring movement under a hand-painted porcelain dial. Click through for the details.​

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Friday March 3, 2012

HODINKEE is one of the most widely read wristwatch publications in the world. Launched in 2008 by then 25-year-old Benjamin Clymer, the site quickly gained notoriety for earnest looks at some of the industry’s most interesting, and occasionally forgotten timepieces.